The present application relates to physiological monitoring devices. While it finds particular application to ultrasound scanners in medical and veterinary applications, it also applies to the monitoring of other physiological variables.
Ultrasound scanners provide useful information about the interior characteristics of an object under examination. In medical applications, clinicians have used ultrasound scanners to examine human subjects in settings such as hospitals, physician's offices, and other locations. Ultrasound scanners have been used in the emergency room, operating room, and similar environments.
Other types of physiological variable scanners are also known. Examples include blood pressure, respiration, cardiac, glucose, and oxygen saturation monitors.
Applications for these scanners often place a premium on size and convenience. In an operating room, for example, space is often at a premium, and the scanner may come into contact with bodily fluids. Moreover, it is sometimes desirable to transport the scanner from room-to-room. To this end, portable scanners have been equipped with wheeled carts that allow the scanner to be rolled along the floor.
Other scanners have taken the generally clam-shell form factor of a laptop computer, with a display hingedly attached to a keyboard. The necessary interfaces have been included in the laptop-like unit so that the transducers, input output devices, and other peripherals can be connected to the laptop like unit as needed. These scanners are configured to be placed on a relatively flat surface such as a tabletop, the surface of a wheeled utility cart, or the like. Unfortunately, such a surface is not always readily available or may be inconvenient. The external interface connections also tend to be relatively inconvenient.